Sliver let off device of a carding machine



p 1963 SEISAKU HANEDA ETAL 3,102,305

SLIVERLET or? DEVICE OF A CARDING MACHINE Filed Jung 2?. 1961 2 Sheg'ts-Sheet 1 INVENTORS SE/SAKU FIR/VEDA mvn MA J/IMOARIGA BY MW A TORN YS p SEISAKU HANEDA ETAL 3,102,305

SLIVER LET OFF DEVICE OF A CARDING MACHINE Filed June 27. 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS s /s'a m/ HANEDA mu: am/mm ARI6A1 BY Wm f? M Arrow/vars j drawn. 2 r 1.

The mainobjcctof thisinyent ionis toprov-ide a means I 3,102,305 Patented Sept. 3, 1963 i12 s .1 SLIVER LET OFF DEVICE OF A CARDING MACHINE Japan, and o Bose ki- Co., Ltd, Fukushima, Japan, jointly" i r This invention relates to sliver letfloff device of a 7 carding machine. comprising a reservoir, a cylinder downwardly, extendingfrom calender rollers in a carding machineto the reservoir and a guide means to lead a sliver 1 temporarily deposited in the reservoir to .a conveyer belt, .whichtransmit slivers produced by carding machines to a dra wing frame where the slivers are combined and between a carding machine andya conveyer belt fortem- United St -s5 Ofice I one side of the belt conveyer, and a pin 7 extends from a in each carding machine are provided in front of the upper end of a stationary cylinderS, which is obliquely positionedabove a reservoir .6. The reservoir is built on bra eketv 11 on the bed at a distance from the lower end of the-cylinder 5. e "Guide pieces 8 and 9 arefixed on the pin, and their positions can be adjusted along the pinto guide the sliver to a required position on the belt. A roller 10 is rotatably held on the guide piece 9, and is freely rotated by the friction with the surface.' of the conveyer belt.

1 A sliver s which has been delivered from the. calender rollers in the carding machine 1 descends inthebcylinder, and is. were the conveyer belt by the guide pieces 8 and 9 and guide roller 10. The sliver producediby each card ing machine is,.placedon the belt 4 side by side, and colporarily depositing asli ver produced by a carding machine when. the drawing frameis stopped in its operation due to I break of a sliver, so that the carding machine can continue its operation.regardless of the stop of the drawing frame, whereby the production of the; carding machine not decreased.

nether object. of thisf inventionis to provide a means when the sliver produced by the machine is depositedin a reservoir over a predetermined weight and automatically re-start its operationkwhen thedeposited quantity of sliver is decreased less than a eertainweight.

. lt is a wellknown art inwoolspinning that several carding machines are installed along a belt, conveyer, and the-laps producedby the carding machines are arranged side by side on the belt conveyer and "transmitted" to a drawing frame. There is a certain difilculty in case this system is applied 'to' a"ootton spinning; because cot-ton fibers are shorter than those of wool so that cotton slivers are apt. to break, especially. in a drawing frame. When asliver is broken in a drawing frame, operation of all cardingmachines connected to the belt conveyer must be stopped until the broken sliver is connected and the drawingframe is re-stai'ted. This of course decreases the pro duction of the carding machines. According to this inventron, a reservoir is pnovidedfor each carding machine,

a and a sliver produced by the carding machine is tempo- Ararily deposited in the reservoir, if the operation of the drawing machine stops, whereby the carding machine can continue their operation until the reservoir is full of sliver, when the operation of the carding machine is automatically or manually stopped. As the travelling speed of the conveyer belt isa little higher than the surface speed of calender nollers in acardingmachine so as to draw out a sliver in a stretched condition, the sliverdeposited in the reservoir is gradually drawn out until the reservoir becomes empty, when. the operation resumes its normal condition.

Referring to the accompanying drawings a FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical view showing the relatio between carding machines, a belt conveyer and a drawing cation. 1

ah the drawings, the bed for a belt conveyer is denoted at 1, and several carding machines 2 are installed along a conveyer 4, on one or both sides." Calender rollers 3 a r to automatically stop the operation of a carding machine,

FIG; 2, and FIG. 4 a similar view to FIG. 2 of a modifilected together at the end of the conveyer, and issupplied to a drawing ham ter funther treatments. .12 is a diagrammatic representationlof. a driving mechanism for the conveyer belt. a V

, .If a sliver s is broken in the drawing frame, the operation ofigthe frameautomatically stops by a device, not shown,"and the conveyerjbelt, too, stops its travel. How} ever the cardingmachines continue their operations so that a sliver is delivered from each of the calender rollers 3. The delivered sliver descends in the cylinder in a slightly coiled form and is deposited in the reservoir. As soon as the drawing fr-ame re-starts and the conveyer belt begins its motion, (the leading end .of the sliver is drawn out by the belt. and the guide'roller.

, V In FIG. 4,. the reference numerals 1 toj6 and 8 denote similar parts to those of FIG. 3. In this embodiment, the r reservoir 6 has a verticafplate 13 at the side near the conveyer;and issupported ion a knife edge 14 standing on the floor at a V-block 13a welded'on the plate 13. Two

arms ,15" and'16 extend horizontally fromthe plate and a spring-1T ;is ela'stically extended between the upper arm and the if r in memo obtain a balance of the reservoir. 'Ihebalance. s'pring rriaylbe replaced by. a balance weight the position of which can be adjusted along the upper I allow the arms 15 and 16 to exend out through the cover member.

In the normal operation, the tension of the balance .spring 17 is so adjusted with the adjusting screw 18 as to raise the reservoir against its weight, so that the upper micro-switch 20 is closed and the carding machine operates. The sliver delivered from the calender rollers descends by its own weight through the cylinder and is sent to the belt conveyer, and is transmitted to the drawing frame with slivers produced by other carding machines installed along the conveyer.

When a sliver is broken in the drawing frame, the travel of the conveyor belt stops, but the carding machines continue their operation. As the leading end of the sliver is not drawn by the conveyer belt the sliver which is still being delivered from the calender roller is deposited in the reservoir. When the broken sliver is connected and the conveyer re-starts its travel, the leading end of the deposited sliver is again drawn out by the conveyer belt. The traveling speed of the belt is made a little higher than the surface speed of the calender roller so as to" sliver resumes its normal traveling In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, when the quantity of sliver deposited in the reservoir becomes much more than a predetermined weight, the reservoir rotates on the knife edge against the tension of the balance spring or weight, so that the upper micro-switch 20 is operated and opens the circuit of the driving motor for the carding machines, so that all the carding machines installed along the conveyer stop their operations. When the conveyer re-starts its traveling, the weight of the sliver deposited in the reservoir gradually decreases until the tension of the balance spring or weight becomes greater than the unbalanced weight of the reservoir, when the reservoir is raised and the lower micro-switch 20a is closed whereby the driving motor for the carding machines re-starts their operations.

We claim:

1. A sliver let off device for positioning between a carding engine and a conveyor belt for conveying slivers to a drawing frame, said let off device comprising a cylinder adapted to extend downwardly from the carding engine, a sliver reservoir having one end positioned under said cylinder and open so as to be able to receive a sliver from said cylinder, and guide means at the other end of the reservoir and adapted to guide the sliver from the lower end of the cylinder and the reservoir to the conveyor belt, an upright member having a knife edge thereon, said reservoir pivotally resting on said knife edge, two arms extending horizontally from said reservoir, balancing means on one arm balancing said reservoir on said knife edge, and switch means adjacent the other arm and adapted to be placed in the control circuit for the carding engine, whereby when said reservoir has a predetermined weight therein it becomes unbalanced and said switch means is actuated by said other arm to shut said carding engine off, and when less than said predetermined weight is in said reservoir, said reservoir is balanced and said switch means is actuated to cause said carding engine to run.

2. A sliver let off device for positioning between a carding engine and a conveyor belt for conveying slivers to a drawing frame, said let off device consisting essentially of a hollow cylinder having an open lower end and adapted to extend downwardly from the carding engine at an angle to the vertical, an upwardly open sliver reservoir having a bottom which is slanted downwardly, curved at the lowermost part thereof, and then extends upwardly, said reservoir being positioned with the downwardly slanted part of the bottom beneath the open lower end of said cylinder, and guide means at the other end of said reservoir and adapted to guide the sliver from the lower end of the cylinder and the reservoir to the conveyor belt.

3. A sliver let off device for positioning between a carding engine and a conveyor belt for conveying slivers to a drawing frame, said let off device comprising a cylinder adapted to extend downwardly from the carding engine, a sliver reservoir having one end positioned under said cylinder and open so as to be able to receive a sliver from said cylinder, balancing means attached to said reservoir and balancing said reservoir about a pivot point, said reservoir being adapted to pivot in one direction about said pivot point when more than a predetermined amount of sliver is collected in said reservoir and to pivot in the other direction about said pivot point when less than the predetermined amount of sliver is collected in said reservoir, and circuit control means operable by movement of said balance means and adapted to be placed in the control circuit for the carding engine and actuating said control circut to shut the carding engine off when said reservoir pivots in said one direction when it has more than the predetermined amount of sliver therein and to actuate the control circuit to start the carding engine when the reservoir pivots in said other direction when it has less than the predetermined amount of sliver therein.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 144,840 Dobson et al. Nov. 25, 1873 1,322,695 Howorth Nov. 25, 1919 3,029,477 Wildbolz et al. Apr. 17, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,122 Great Britain of 1899 

1. A SLIVER LET OFF DEVICE FOR POSITIONING BETWEEN A CARDING ENGINE AND A CONVEYOR BELT FOR CONVEYING SLIVERS TO A DRAWING FRAME, SAID LET OFF DEVICE COMPRISING A CYLINDER ADAPTED TO EXTEND DOWNWARDLY FROM THE CARDING ENGINE, A SLIVER RESERVOIR HAVING ONE END POSITIONED UNDER SAID CYLINDER AND OPEN SO AS TO BE ABLE TO RECEIVE A SLIVER FROM SAID CYLINDER, AND GUIDE MEANS AT THE OTHER END OF THE RESERVOIR AND ADAPTED TO GUIDE THE SLIVER FROM THE LOWER END OF THE CYLINDER AND THE RESERVOIR TO THE CONVEYOR BELT, AN UPRIGHT MEMBER HAVING A KNIFE EDGE THEREON, SAID RESERVOIR PIVOTALLY RESTING ON SAID KNIFE EDGE, TWO ARMS EXTENDING HORIZONTALLY FROM SAID RESERVOIR, BALANCING MEANS ON ONE ARM BALANCING SAID RESERVOIR ON SAID KNIFE EDGE, AND SWITCH MEANS ADJACENT THE OTHER ARM AND ADAPTED TO BE PLACED IN THE CONTROL CIRCUIT FOR THE CARDING ENGINE, WHEREBY WHEN SAID RESERVOIR HAS A PREDETERMINED WEIGHT THEREIN IT BECOMES UNBALANCED AND SAID SWITCH MEANS IS ACTUATED BY SAID OTHER ARM TO SHUT SAID CARDING ENGINE OFF, AND WHEN LESS THAN SAID PREDETERMINED WEIGHT IS IN SAID RESERVOIR, SAID RESERVOIR IS BALANCED AND SAID SWITCH MEANS IS ACTUATED TO CAUSE SAID CARDING ENGINE TO RUN.
 2. A SILVER LET OFF DEVICE FOR POSITIONING BETWEEN A CARDING ENGINE AND A CONVEYOR BELT FOR CONVEYING SLIVERS TO A DRAWING FRAME, SAID LET OFF DEVICE CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF A HOLLOW CYLINDER HAVING AN OPEN LOWER END AND ADAPTED TO EXTEND DOWNWARDLY FROM THE CARDING ENGINE AT AN ANGLE TO THE VERTICAL, AN UPWARDLY OPEN SLIVER RESERVOIR HAVING A BOTTOM WHICH IS SLANTED DOWNWARDLY, CURVED AT THE LOWERMOST PART THEREOF, AND THEN EXTENDS UPWARDLY, SAID RESERVOIR BEING POSITIONED WITH THE DOWNWARDLY SLANTED PART OF THE BOTTOM BENEATH THE OPEN LOWER END OF SAID CYLINDER, AND GUIDE MEANS AT THE OTHER END OF SAID RESERVOIR AND ADAPTED TO GUIDE THE SLIVER FROM THE LOWER END OF THE CYLINDER AND THE RESERVOIR TO THE CONVEYOR BELT. 